BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF   January 4, 2015, 10:53 pm

Prominent US attorney Alan Dershowitz threatened legal action Sunday against a woman who accused him and Britain’s Prince Andrew of sex crimes, and said he would work to have her testify in court.

“In an interview with the BBC, the Harvard Law School professor said he wanted the plaintiff to speak on oath in court.

I unequivocally and without any reservations totally deny all the allegations about sexual contact,” he said.

My goal is to bring charges against the client and require her to speak in court. If she believes she has been hurt by me and by Prince Andrew, she should be suing us for damages.

“I welcome any opportunity which would put her under oath and require her to state under oath these false allegations.

“What they’ve done was so underhanded: simply asserting it in a legal proceeding, not asking for any opportunity to prove it, not alleging that they could prove it, not giving me an opportunity to disprove it. That’s Kafkaesque,” continued Dershowitz.

 ** My Analysis **

Let’s look at Mr. Dershowitz’s denial (the remaining portions of the statement are meaningless for this analysis):

“I unequivocally and without any reservations totally deny all the allegations about sexual contact,” he said.”

Again, we look for simplicity and precision in denials to determine if they are meaningful.  A denial statement which, essentially, says, “I deny the allegations,” is the equivalent of saying I am not guilty at a criminal proceeding. His denial statement is neither simple nor precise. Stating a denial is not a denial.  Saying “I deny ….” is not the same as saying “I did not ….”

A much better and meaningful/believable denial for Mr. Dershowitz would have been:  “I did not have sexual relations with the accuser.” That is simple and precise.  His denial statement is not a good denial. 

When an accused provides a poor denial, the accuser gains credibility. The truth about denial statements and much more is found in Joe Koenig's book, "Getting the Truth:"  It is available at Get the Truth.